Using Women's Panties as a Weapon

Frontpagemag.com ^ | May 10, 2004 | Larry Schweikart

[Sue Bob]

Amidst all the apologies, I want to suggest we all (Hillary Clinton here) take a deep breath and consider something that no one in the administration or Congress has (publicly) considered:

The POW photos are having an unintended effect on the Arab "Street" and the "resistance."

By now, everyone pretty well knows that Arab societies base everything on power and perceptions of power. In part, that is why so many Freepers and conservatives got their panties in a bunch because it appeared in public like "apologizing" was a sign of weakness.

Ah, my friends. You aren't thinking like an Arab. The "street" and, indeed, the leadership doesn't trust much of what we say---they only look at what we do. It would have made no difference if Bush formally apologized and sent each detainee a bouquet of flowers---the "street" would see that as a sham, a pretense, a distraction from the "real" policy.

No, I suggest something else. That the Arab "street" and especially the "resistance" has taken from those photos a message we didn't intend to send, but one that strikes fear into the very heart of them---a message of pure power and dominance. The submissive positions of these "tough" Iraqi men under the heels and attached to the leashes of WOMEN (and relatively small women, at that) sends a very powerful message to the "street."

Snip

Of course, for many reasons, some good and some bad, this episode will be investigated, and some heads will roll. But the Arab street will not take that as a sign of American or western-style "justice," rather it will interpret this as another psy-op campaign designed to conceal the real message---that American women are "stronger" than Middle Eastern men.

[Pete]

I never said this outloud but I was thinking what a fantastic psy-op these pictures are. I would imagine that many of the militants in Iraq are willing to die for the cause but the thought of being forced to dance around in ladies' underwear while flashbulbs go off would make their blood run cold. Getting blown to bits and reaching the great 72 is one thing. Finding yourself on the wrong end of a leash wearing pair of frilly unmentionables is something else entirely.

[RedEyeJack]

Boy, you got that right... the latest issue du jour with which to pay "gotcha" with GWB...

Someone needs to ask John McCain if he thinks the beatings he got were an atrocity in comparison to making Ali wear a pair of panties around on his head... For me, I'd take the underwear atrocity any day...

[plain talk]

The uproar is much bigger in the DEMOCRAT STREET than it is in the Arab Street.

I agree. In a society where they lop off hands for stealing, being forced to wear women's panties is not exactly the level of torture to which they are accustomed. I think the Arab street is laughing at how our press and dems are overreacting to this silliness.

[Conspiracy Guy]

A General Inspection is considered at least Secret I believe. So any material pretaining to that inspection would also be Secret until the inspection was over and released.

[plain talk]

Exactly. The only serious offense I'm concerned about is how these photos got released. Heads should roll over that.

[Conspiracy Guy]

The treatment of the prisoners appears to be out of line. But the release of the photos outside the military investigation was out of line, without question.

I sense that cameras will become illegal to the soldier in theater. I'd ban them now.

[MineralMan]

"The treatment of the prisoners appears to be out of line. But the release of the photos outside the military investigation was out of line, without question.
"

These photos are like any photos today. If they exist, they will find their way onto the internet and into the news.

It's going to be impossible to prevent future photos that come out from being widely distributed. Impossible.

There was a story this morning about a roll of film of similar stuff being processed in a US film lab.

Take the cameras away from the troops? Good luck.

[hunter112]

BTW, forget the panties and girdles..dress them in BURKAS...

Nope, a burka's an honorable garment to them, I prefer the Ahmed's Secret plan!

I wondered why Rummy mentioned the other photos and the videos at Friday's hearing, and I think I know. The Islamofascists we're fighting don't fear death anywhere near as much as they fear dishonor. They disbelieve all of our words about it not happening again. While the apologies make us cringe, apologies accompanied by pictures are striking fear in the hears of our enemies.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't the death rate for American soldiers gone down since the release of the first pictures? Many here have suggested the pig fat treatment for bullets, maybe women's panties are the equivalent.

[RightthinkinAmerican]

Thet'll see through ALL the lame, desperate attempts. The crazier they get, the better Dubya will do.

[jonno]

Using Women's Panties as a Weapon

Who could ignore an article with this title?

Bump!

[Conspiracy Guy]

Take the cameras away from the troops? Good luck.

It won't happen but the damage done is much deeper than embarassment. One could argue that people pay good money all over the world to be treated like these prisoners were being treated for free.

[R. Scott]

"American women are "stronger" than Middle Eastern men." Uh...OK...SO?
If the truth hurts, it is indeed a potent weapon.

[MineralMan]

"It won't happen but the damage done is much deeper than embarassment. One could argue that people pay good money all over the world to be treated like these prisoners were being treated for free.
"

One could argue a lot of things. Sure, some S&M and Bondage freaks pay for such crap, but it's their choice.

Bottom line: What happened in the prison was wrong. American Soldiers don't do that stuff. To make matters worse, they photographed it.

Now the cat's out of the proverbial bag and it's really ticked off. Anyone standing within range is likely to get some nasty scratches.

Rhetoric isn't going to help. Trying to soft-peddle what happened isn't going to help. Action might help, but it depends on who you ask and what the action is.

Many of the prisoners there were arrested by accident, apparently. Tons have been released.

Quite frankly, this is a disaster, diplomatically, politically, and generally. Bush is doing his best to apologize for the actions of the offending soldiers, as is Rumsfeld and everyone else in the chain of command.

Will that be enough? I don't know, but it has caused damage to the Bush administration and to the reputation of the United States of America.

I'm seriously bummed.

[RonF]

So, prisoners were stripped naked, humiliated, abused, beaten, raped and murdered? Why is this a surprise? Why would the world expect the U.S. to run a foreign prison better than our own prisons? Everyone talks about the impression we give the world though our TV shows. Haven't any of them seen Oz?

[Conspiracy Guy]

You're right about the damage. I have faith. We will overcome it so I am not bummed.

[MineralMan]

"So, prisoners were stripped naked, humiliated, abused, beaten, raped and murdered? Why is this a surprise? Why would the world expect the U.S. to run a foreign prison better than our own prisons? "


While you are correct that abuses happen in US prisons, that is a different issue altogether and does not affect world opinion, diplomacy, or the Presidential election.

This happened. How Bush deals with it is going to probably determine what happens in the election, and may seriously influence the progress of the war in Iraq...not to mention our relations with other Moslem nations...some of which are economically very important to us.

[Freebird Forever]

I am ALL FOR humiliating this enemy.

My recall of ancient history could use a little buffing up. But I do seem to remember reading that when Babylon was the dominant world power, the parading of nude POWs was a standard practice.

[Xenalyte]

When panties are being discussed, the Panty Patrol must be notified.

[BunnySlippers]

I say dress them up in corsets, garter belts and fishnet stockings like Dr. Frankenfurther in Rocky Horror Picture Show and threaten to parade them down the streets of Bagdad if they don't talk.

Ditto. What a laugh!

[Ben Chad]

You gotta love serendipity.